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Hi Brian, That's a useful technical insight into what is going on and why connection through OBDII is so limited. Robert, Yes I can give you more information but I'm away on business for a week from tomorrow so it will not be immediate. I hope to get the faults fixed and an MOT when I return so the ...

Hi Robert, Here's the under bonnet update. I connected the INPA to the round connector and just to check connection I read the engine codes which came back the same as from the OBDII connector. I then searched for the ABS module which would you believe INPA found easily and gave me codes 148 and 49....

Thanks for the tips, John. I have got an update on the ABS please see my next post as a reply to Robert. I doubt very much if my MAF needs doing just yet since including the original it has had 3 different sensors in the last two months. The one currently fitted has done less than 10 miles! We ought...

Well as you can imagine the law of sod has been applied. My shiny new INPA gear arrived and after a frustrating evening yesterday just trying to install the software (shame that it cannot install anywhere other than the C drive) I hooked it up to the OBDII connector inside the car. It found the DME ...

Thanks Del and Robert, As I said TPS and MDK is effectively the same thing as it has to be replaced as a unit apparently but it is interesting to note that someone has disassembled a throttle body even though everything I have read says "don't do it! Don't even be tempted to operate it by hand!...

Hi Robert, Thanks for the reply. The build date is April 2000. From what I gather the throttle on these is odd in that the pedal position sensor is in the body not at the pedal. So the throttle cable operates a pedal position sensor at the throttle body and then an electric motor operates the thrott...

Hi, I got the codes read by a more elaborate machine but all that was coming back was sluggish / stuck throttle. The chap who read this from my car was reluctant to go further as he doesn't believe that the throttle is stuck either from the results of his tests but suspect the TPS which is where Del...

That's a good point, Del. When a wheel sensor goes down the ASC / ABS is disabled. My thinking was that if both front wheel sensors fail then any movement from the rear wheels may be seen as wheelspin and ASC the activates. My thoughts overnight were that this cannot be the case since the ABS light ...

Hi Del, I'm using P A Soft BMW Scanner software running on an XP laptop with an interface unit that goes from the laptop COM1 port to the 16 pin Pacman socket under the bonnet of the Z3. It reads each control unit in turn, reporting how many errors are stored for each in a complete scan, or you can ...

Hi, This is a bit of an ongoing problem that I keep thinking that I've fixed only to discover that I haven't and now the MOT is due! The car is is a 2 litre Z3 registered in October 2000. 52TU engine. When I first tried to fire it up for this summer it refused to run. Shortening a long story, an inl...

My insurance went up this year too by a whole £3!
Now the princely sum of £184 with a £200 xs.
The secret of cheap insurance is to be a miserable old git in Norfolk, drive a Volvo when not in the Z, and use Admiral Multicar for these two and the wife's Fiesta shopping trolley.

But surely with the roof down you would want to listen to the exhaust! I find it much more tuneful than the unholy racket emanating from a majority of vehicles on the road today. When we're all driving hybrids, or worse still electric cars I shall see the need for a sound system but until then... Wh...

Never mind breaking in! In London I used to own a Jaguar XJR which parts would regularly disappear from. You know the sort of thing, £50 indicator lenses, £500 front grills. I contacted the local constabulary to complain and the reply was "That's unusual, Sir. They normally only steal parts fro...